More than Comfort
by autumn midnights
Summary: M&MWP. Victoire/Neville. Mentions of past Victoire/Teddy. Victoire goes over Neville's house after her breakup with Teddy Lupin and finds a little bit of romance.


Disclaimer: Everything is JK Rowling's. But you already know that.

A/N: For mew-tsubaki, who is a pretty awesome writer and FF friend. My first attempt at cross-gen. Enjoy!

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Victoire Weasley had always looked up to Neville Longbottom. He was her favorite uncle as a child, despite him not having any blood relation to the Weasleys, and her favorite professor as a student at Hogwarts, despite her lack of Herbology aptitude. They had remained friendly even after Victoire graduated from Hogwarts, got her own flat, and stopped going over her family's houses constantly. She had a bit of a crush on him ever since sixth year - although he wasn't the handsomest of men, he had a kind, easygoing nature and a warm heart, which perhaps led to her attraction to him. It was never acted upon, however. After all, he was many years older, and, up until just recently, married. They were good friends, however, which was why Victoire found herself Apparating to his flat.

It was late. She knew that, although she did not know the exact time; she could not be bothered to check before she left Teddy's house, nor did she have a watch. It must have been close to midnight, though, meaning that there was a chance that Neville would not hear the door, and as a result, not answer it. But in the state she was in, she was not thinking clearly. All she knew was that she wanted someone to comfort her, and Neville was as good a choice as any. She stumbled up to the door, shakily raising one hand to knock softly.

It was a minute or so before the door opened, and Neville's concerned face stared down at her. "Victoire? What - oh, just come in, it's late." He held the door for her as she walked inside, careful of her steps. She could barely see from her tears and runny mascara. He shut the door behind her and handed her a handkerchief, which she promptly used to clean up her face as best she could before sitting down on the couch, pulling her knees up to her chest like she was still a little kid and not a twenty-four-year-old woman. "Are you all right?"

"I'm..." She sniffled, but forced herself to regain slight composure. "I broke up with Teddy. Again. But...it's for good this time." The relationship of Victoire and Teddy had been going on for seven years, but it was on and off the whole time. Both of them had dated other people, but they always found their way back to one another. But now, it seemed, that was over. Seven years of romance, even more years of friendship...down the drain. She couldn't imagine how they could go on being friendly to one another after this. They hadn't exactly ended on good terms.

"I understand," Neville said sympathetically. Hannah, who had been his wife since around the time Victoire was born, had broken up with him for Ernie Macmillan, of all people, just a year prior. He was still smarting from that, although he realized he should see what else was out there. He was old, though...the possibility of finding someone at his age dropped with each passing day, or so it seemed. Not to mention he was at Hogwarts so often for his teaching position. Would there really be anyone willing to put up with that. "Do you need to talk?"

"I need to go hex Teddy Remus Lupin's balls off," Victoire said darkly, becoming angrier with her ex-boyfriend by the second. She was both angry at him and also sad; she was definitely a hot mess at the moment. "But I figured...well, I decided that I would wait until morning. Maybe...maybe things will have changed. Like I'll have decided to just hex his whole freaking body, instead." The idea was indeed quite tempting, and she indulged herself in fantasies of which hexes and jinxes to use for a few moments. "Sorry...you probably don't want to hear this."

"It's fine," Neville said. "I've gotten used to girls telling me their problems. I was leader of Dumbledore's Army during seventh year, remember?"

She smirked. "A position which you were forced into, if I recall. I also recall Aunt Ginny saying you bawled your eyes out one night because you wished someone else could handle it."

"She and I made an agreement not to tell anyone about that!" His mock outrage was amusing, and took some of the negative emotions away. How was it that Neville was the one person who could always cheer her up, more than anyone else? It had been Teddy, back when they were little, but obviously that was gone. Her family was nice, yes, but it just wasn't the same. Family was _supposed _to be able to cheer you up. It was when other people did it...that was what was nice.

"Apparently she broke that agreement." Victoire stood up. "You got anything to drink?"

"There's butterbeer in the kitchen," he said, also standing up. "Don't worry about it, I'll get it."

"Gryffindors, always the gentlemen," she said, sitting back down as Neville bustled into the kitchen. She heard the clinking noises of the glasses and knew he'd be back out in barely any time. The thought was comforting. No one could make her feel better like Neville could, that was certain. He walked in, handing her one of the glasses, which she daintily sipped before setting it down on the coffee table. He sat close to her, so that their legs touched, and although he appeared not to notice it, it sent a thrill racing up her back. He turned to look at her, probably to continue their conversation, and that was when she made her move, kissing him with an impulsiveness that was very Gryffindor of her, an odd behavior from one such as herself (the hat had said she was decidedly not Gryffindor, and then proceeded to debate between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff for three minutes straight). Perhaps it was her breakup just a short time before that made her so reckless.

They pulled away at the same time, looking at one another curiously. It was Victoire who spoke first. "Is...is that all right?"

Neville seemed to be stunned by the kiss, and it was a little while before he spoke. "Victoire, I am nineteen years older than you."

"So? Men marry younger women all the time, not to mention our family...well, it's kind of screwed up."

"I don't know what you mean."

"James is married to a man your age, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Let's see...Fred and Lucy basically flirt with one another, and they're incredibly obnoxious about it. I've caught Al staring at a picture of Molly with a hungry look in his eye more than once. Rose is dating Scorpius Malfoy just to piss off Uncle Ron. Lily Luna and Roxanne disappear into a bedroom every time the family gets together. Hugo and Louis - well, I actually caught them, let's say, _trousers down._ Our family is really messed up. A lot."

Neville was staring at her openly now. "I never knew that. I always thought the Weasleys were relatively normal...well, apart from the fact there's about a hundred of you, that is."

Victoire rolled her eyes, lightly shoving him in the arm. "There is not a hundred of us, you great prat." She threw her arm around him. "Now, did you mind us kissing or not?"

"I didn't mind," Neville said, still looking a bit curious and bewildered. "But you don't care about what others are going to think? You dating a much older man and all that?"

"I don't give a damn, really. You make me happy. You cheer me up when few others can, and you're fun to be around. I've liked you since sixth year, for Merlin's sake. So will you please just agree that we like snogging, we want to go out together, and that's that?"

"Okay, bossy," he teased. "I agree."

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**Alright, so Victoire/Neville, James Sirius/Justin, Freddie/Lucy, Lily Luna/Roxanne, Molly II/Albus, and Hugo/Louis are all M&MWPs, which means they belong to mew-tsubaki and Morghen. I hope you liked your present, mew, so Merry Christmas! To everyone else, please review!**


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